Damsel in Distress
by Mirror of Dreams
Summary: After many failed attempts to get Sportacus to leave Lazytown, Robbie Rotten strikes upon an idea that might actually have some merit. Robbie decides that the best way to make Sportacus do what he wants is to capture his best friend: Stephanie. Will Sportacus save her? Or will he have to leave Lazytown forever? SportaSteph
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone! This is my first story, and I apologize for it's shortness. I can't believe I actually wrote a SportaSteph. I was reading a Lazytown fanfic at one point, and suddenly the ridiculousness of it all struck me. Of all the characters in the world, who do I ship? A cheesy Icelandic superhero and a little girl in pink who's story's major dramatic conflict is someone consuming too much candy and going into a coma. I just found it rather hilarious. Anyway, here I am. Wish me luck!**

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It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, birds were flying, and Stephanie was out for a walk. She whistled a tune as she went, keeping an eye out for any of her friends. Just then she spotted one.

"Hi Ziggy!" greeted Stephanie.  
"Oh, uh, hi!" Ziggy responded.

Stephanie took in the scene before her. Ziggy was holding a small brightly colored kite, the thread from which was wrapped around and around him in a hopeless mess.

"Um... What are you doing Ziggy?" asked Stephanie.  
Ziggy sighed. "I was trying to fly a kite."  
"Do you need some help?" Stephanie inquired.  
Ziggy perked up. "Oh yeah! That'd be great!"

~Quite a while later~

"There, you're all set!" Stephanie finished untying the last knot in Ziggy's kitestring and handed the kite to him.  
"Oh boy! Now we'll really fly it!" Ziggy looked up appreciatively at his older friend. "Thanks Stephanie!"  
Stephanie smiled. "No problem! Do you want me to help you fly it?"  
"Yeah..." Ziggy shuffled his feet, a little embarrassed. "I don't really know how."  
"That's alright!" Stephanie assured him. "I'll show you, it's easy!"  
She took the kite from him and stepped forward a bit.  
"All you have to do is hold it up, wait for the wind to catch it, and... There!" She gave the kite a little toss and it was airborne.  
"Woah!" Ziggy said in appreciation.  
"Pretty cool, huh?" Stephanie agreed. "Now all you have to do is hold onto the string and make sure it doesn't run into any-"

The kite swerved abruptly and veered into a tree.

"-Trees." Stephanie finished  
"Oh man!" Ziggy moped, "Now we'll never get it out!"  
"It's alright," Stephanie reassured, "I'll go get it."  
She ran over to the tree and looked up it. The tree looked relatively easy to climb, but the kite was up pretty high. Stephanie did not like heights. She hoped the branches would hold her. Well, better get started. She hooked a leg up onto a low branch and started climbing.

Up and up she climbed. She was now level with the kite, but it was far away from her, stuck in the outer foliage. She lowered herself onto a branch and started scooting out towards it. The branch bended and bowed as she got further out on it. By the time Stephanie had gotten out to the kite the branch had sagged so much that the kite was above her. She got up from her sitting position and attempted to reach up and grab it. This movement caused the branch to shift, and she felt herself loose her balance, and with it her footing on the branch.

-Meanwhile, up in an airship-

"Thirty-five, Thirty-six, Thirty-seven..." counted Sportacus. He was doing push-ups, and between each one he would spring up enough to clap his hands together before dropping for another push. Suddenly his crystal chimed.  
"Uh-Oh," gasped Sportacus, jumping up. "Someone's in trouble."  
He stepped out of his airship and looked around for the sign of trouble. His eyes locked on Stephanie wobbling on a branch, and he leapt into action. With a hit of a button he shot out a grappling hook on a cable, which promptly fastened itself onto a tree branch near Stephanie. Sportacus then pulled out a device and clicked it onto the cable, forming a zipline. He gave a small leap off the ship's platform, and went hurtling down towards his little pink haired friend.

Sportacus reached the tree with only a little time to spare. He dropped off the zipline and landed under the tree, just in time to catch Stephanie as she fell.

"Are you alright?" he asked her.  
Stephanie was still a little shocked with adrenaline, but she smiled up at the town hero gratefully.  
"Yes, thanks to you."

"Whew! That was close!" observed Trixie. The children had gathered while Stephanie had been up the tree, and they were now all there.  
"Yeah." agreed Pixel, "At first I thought that you wouldn't get here in time!"  
"Me too!" put in Stingy.  
"Of course," reminded Trixie, "Sportacus is always ready to save us."  
"Especially Stephanie!" added Ziggy.  
Sportacus blushed a little bit, and Stephanie fidgeted, trying to look like she hadn't noticed the awkwardness of this comment. Ziggy had meant well, but his innocent observation had hit a little too close to the mark to be comfortable.

Amidst all this no one noticed a pair of blue binoculars poking up out of a nearby flowerbed to observe them.

-Meanwhile, down below-

Robbie Rotten looked into the periscope, made a face, looked again and then gagged.

"Achk! Sportacus this, Sportacus that. Sportacus is always there to save us!" Robbie imitated in a whiny voice. He leaned on a rail dejectedly and continued his impersonation.  
"At first I thought you wouldn't get here in time! You'll always save us, especially Stephanie!" He scrunched up his face in disgust. "Blah Blah Blah!"  
Robbie slouched over to his armchair and plopped down on it.  
"If only there were a way to get rid of Sportacus forever!"  
He grabbed a candy from a jar on his sidetable and tossed it into his mouth. Between chews he mumbled: "You'll always save us! Especially Stephanie!" He continued to scowl for a moment, and then his eyes lit up.  
"Espes- Especially Stephanie!"  
He jumped out of his chair and laughed delightedly.  
"That's it! It's so simple! So obvious! The little pink thing has been in front of my nose the whole time! The key to Sportacus's fragile, delicate heart." He clutched his chest dramatically in mock sorrow. He shook his head and gave a victorious laugh.  
"When Sportacus learns that I've captured his beautiful, innocent friend..." -he clutched his heart again- "He'll have to do whatever I say!"  
Robbie gave one last laugh and began his plan to capture Stephanie.

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P.S. I would be extremely happy if the readers commented/reviewed, especially to correct my grammar and formatting! I'm never going to learn if no one teaches me! Also, I apologize if what happened in this story has happened before. I haven't watched all the episodes, and chances are, at some point Ziggy probably flew a kite, Stephanie climbed a tree and fell out, and Sportacus used a zipline (though not necessarily in the same episode). Feedback would be awesome!


	2. Chapter 2

After Sportacus made sure everything was alright with Stephanie and the kids he had left them to play and retreated back to his airship. Stephanie was now sitting with her back to a tree, writing in her diary.

_Dear Diary,_  
_Today Ziggy caught his kite in a tree. I climbed up to get it for him, but I lost my balance and fell. Fortunately Sportacus came just in time to catch me._

Stephanie stopped writing, remembering what happened next. For some reason she didn't want to write that part down. It made her feel funny just thinking about it.

Stephanie never decided whether or not to record the awkward comment. She was interrupted by the sight of Ziggy coming up the hill towards her. She closed her journal and smiled at him.

"Hey, Ziggy! What's up?"

"Well... Trixie was just wondering if you'd like to play hid and seek!"

"Oh sure!" responded Stephanie. They set off to find the others.

~On the other side of the funny yellow wall~

Robbie Rotten smiled mischievously. He was wearing a fake mustache and was dressed as a mailman.

"Hide and seek! The perfect game!"

He laughed his strange evil laugh and began setting up his trap.

~Back with the children~

Trixie saw them coming and called, "Oh good, you found her!"

Stephanie smiled at her and asked, "Who's going to be it?"

There was a silence. Nobody wanted to be it. Eventually Pixel spoke:

"Hey, why doesn't Stingy be it?"

Stingy looked shocked, then indignant.

"No way! If I was it somebody might steal _my_ hiding spot!"

Pixel reconsidered.

"Um... Well then... What about Ziggy?"

Ziggy shuffled his feet. "I don't know... I'm not so good at finding people." After a moment of hesitation he added, "What about Trixie?"

Trixie shook her head indignantly.

"No way!" she declared. "I know, Pixel, why don't _you_ be it?"

"Yeah!" everyone agreed, relieved that it wouldn't have to be them.

"Oh, Uh-" Pixel tried to object, but everybody was already running away. "Okay." he answered glumly.

"Count to fifty!" Stephanie yelled over her shoulder as she ran away.

Pixel started to count.

"One. Two. Three. Four..."

As soon as Stephanie heard Pixel start counting, she ran for the park. She was planning to hide in one of the large bushes nearby, but when she got there Trixie was already hiding in it. Trixie shooed her away.

"They'll find us if we're both here! Go hide somewhere else!"

Stephanie nodded, and ran over to the play structure. She ducked inside, but ran into Stingy.

"My spot!" Stingy whispered fiercely.

Stephanie backed out and kept on running. She checked under a bench.

"Oh, hi Stephanie!"

It was Ziggy. Bother. Where could she hide? Just then she spotted an empty cardboard box beside the mailbox. It looked like it might fit her. She climbed inside and closed the lid on top. She fit in, but only just. It was a tight squeeze.

Robbie Rotten laughed delightedly as he watched Stephanie step into the box and close herself up. He ran over and taped the box shut. Laughing to himself, he muttered:

"They'll never even guess!"

He picked the box up and began carrying it back to his lair. Inside the box, Stephanie felt the movement and knew that something was wrong. Someone was moving the box.

"Wait! Put me down! There's somebody in here!" she yelled, presuming that someone had taken the box by accident.

Robbie laughed at this. "Nobody can hear you!" he hissed into the box, "Not the kids, not your uncle, and especially not Sportacus!"

Just then Pixel came around the corner.

"Hey," He yelled, "Mr. Mailman! Have you seen anybody around here?"

Robbie jumped a bit, then tried to look inconspicuous.

"Mm, no." He answered in a funny sounding false voice, "I haven't seen anyone recently..."

Just then Stephanie yelled from the inside of the box. She had yelled "help", but it came out too muffled and indistinct for Pixel to understand.

"Did you hear something?" Pixel asked.

Robbie shook his head furiously.

"No! But if I did, it was Definitely coming from over_ there_..." he pointed in the direction opposite from where he had to go, which happened to be the park.

"Oh, thanks, man!" replied Pixel, walking off towards the playground.

"Anytime!" Robbie muttered under his breath.

There was little or no difficulty from there on out. Robbie managed to get past the kids, smuggle Stephanie out of the town, and carry her all the way to his hideout entrance before he had trouble. He set the box down by the entry hatch and climbed up the ladder to open it. After it was open he realized that he had a dilemma. There was no way he could climb down the chute and hold the girl-in-a-box. He would have to let her out.

Robbie stepped over to the box and peeled off the tape. He opened up the lid and prepared to grab the little girl inside, but the little girl was prepared too. She jumped out of the box and started running back towards Lazytown.

"Stop!" Robbie yelled.

Stephanie, of course, did not stop. Robbie gave a great sigh and started off after her. Stephanie may have been in better physical condition, but despite Robbie Rotten's loathing for physical activity he was still taller, and had longer legs. Besides this Stephanie was panicked and clumsy. Robbie eventually caught up with her and grabbed her by the arm. Stephanie tried to tug away, but Robbie held her tight. In one final effort to escape she yelled for help, just before Robbie clamped his hand over her mouth.

But Robbie was too late. Up in the airship above, a small crystal on a certain superhero's chest had caught her distress call. It chimed and lit up. The superhero wearing it looked down in surprise.

"Someone's in trouble."

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**Thank you guys ever so much for reviewing! I must admit I was surprised; somehow I didn't expect that anyone would really read this story. At any rate the surprise was a pleasant one! Many things in this chapter were rather unrealistic, but I was kind of copying the bizarre cartoon logic that Lazytown uses. Yes, Stephanie just ****_happened_**** to hide in that specific box, Robbie was miraculously able to lift her without effort, and, the typical one: Nobody recognized Robbie. But hey, that sort of thing happens in the actual show all the time! Thanks for reading and reviewing! I highly appreciate it.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello again, everyone! I'm sorry this chapter took so long! I was rather busy with school, and I will be for quite some time. However, I'll try to update when I can. For your wait, you have a chapter that is a tad bit longer that previous ones... or maybe that's just my imagination. Anyway, thank you for reading!**

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Sportacus jumped into his hover-bike and rushed down to save whoever was in trouble. He landed in the middle of the park and looked around worriedly. Just then Pixel came out from behind one of the play structures, and Sportacus caught sight of him.

"Pixel!" he called over to him, "Is everyone all right?"

Pixel looked around confusedly.

"Uh, yeah, I think so! Why?"

"Well," Sportacus answered, "My crystal just chimed. Someone must be in trouble."

Pixel contemplated this.

"Well... I guess it could be-"

Suddenly Stingy ran out from inside the play structure, interrupting Pixel with a yell of:

"Spider!"

Sure enough, a large furry spider was dangling off Stingy's hair in a vain attempt to avoid being shaken to it's death.

"Getitoffgetitoffgetitoffme!" Stingy squealed.

Sportacus jumped to the rescue.

"Here Stingy, hold still."

In a few moments the spider was carefully extracted from Stingy's hair and sent on it's way. Sportacus patted Stingy's now spider-free head.

"There you go. That must have been what my crystal was reacting to. It was a pretty big spider, wasn't it?"

Stingy nodded.

"And in _my_ hair!"

Sportacus laughed, then asked:

"Hey, where is everybody?"

"Oh, we're playing hide and seek!" answered Pixel. "By the way Stingy, I found you."

Stingy crossed his arms and humphed.

"It's alright Stingy." Sportacus consoled, then offered, "Hey, I can help you find them!"

After a few minutes of looking Ziggy and Trixie had been added to the group, but still no one could find Stephanie.

"Where could she be?" Ziggy sighed in exasperation, "We've looked everywhere!"

"Don't give up, Ziggy!" Sportacus reassured, "She has to be somewhere. We just have to keep looking."

~Meanwhile, down in Robbie's lair~

Robbie was sitting in his armchair again, eating candy and watching television. Stephanie sat in a small cage beside him. The cage was only large enough for her to sit up straight, or to curl up on the bottom. Robbie unpeeled a candy and offered it to her.

"Want a candy, Pinky?"

Stephanie scrunched up her nose at the sugary treat. Robbie grinned down at her.

"What, did you think I'd give you sports candy while you were here? I think not!"

He sneered victoriously and popped the candy into his mouth. Stephanie gave him her best death glare. If there was one thing she wouldn't allow it was letting Robbie think of her as a scared little girl. She was frightened, but she wouldn't let Robbie see.

"What do you want with me?" she asked, daringly. She was half afraid of the answer, but figured she ought to know and get it over with.

Robbie grinned his evil smile.

"It's not a matter of what I want with you, but of what I want with Sportacus!"

Robbie waited for Stephanie's response. She frowned at him confusedly. What did this have to do with Sportacus? But then, Robbie's plans almost always had to do with the town's blue superhero. Robbie got down next to the cage at Stephanie's face level.

"With you here, Sportacus will do what ever I tell him to!" he paused, gave her a funny look, then continued in a mocking tone, "He wouldn't want his _darling_ Stephanie to get hurt!"

Stephanie recoiled from him in shock. It was not so much from Robbie's plan as from the suggestive comment tacked onto the end. She studied his face to make sure she hadn't misinterpreted what he meant. Surely he meant that in a harmless, "Wouldn't want one of his friends to get hurt." sort of way? But it wasn't so. There Robbie sat, with that scandalous "I know your secret" look on his face. He really did mean it in that way. The thought of Robbie coming to such a conclusion made her sick. Why him? Why did he have to figure it out?

Robbie took in her reaction with delight. So she had realized it too. Robbie got up off the floor and plopped back into his chair. This was just too good. He could keep Stephanie here, make Sportacus leave Lazytown, and have some fun teasing Stephanie in the meantime. It seemed that little Stephanie had a crush...

~Back in Lazytown~

The kids were starting to panic. They had been looking for Stephanie for almost an hour now. They'd long since given up, and yelled so, but evidently Stephanie hadn't heard. Ziggy feared for the worst.

"What if she can't hear us, and ends up hiding forever?" he worried.

"Yeah!" Pixel agreed. "Or what if she hid in a tree, and got stuck?"

"Maybe she hid in a tree and fell out again!" Stingy added.

"Maybe she died!" suggested Trixie.

Sportacus stepped in before panic broke out.

"Now, I'm sure that didn't happen. Stephanie will be fine, we just have to find her. She's probably just out of hearing range."

"Yeah!" agreed Trixie, "After all, it's rather hard to hear the words of the living from the _other side_." she wiggled her fingers and "Oooh"ed spookily.

Sportacus shook his head and assured them, "She's definitely not dead. Don't worry, guys."

"Still," questioned Pixel, "What are we going to do? It's getting dark."

Sportacus thought from a moment.

"You guys go home. I'll keep looking for Stephanie. Just get some sleep, and she'll be back by morning."

Everyone agreed, and after making sure they had all gotten back safely Sportacus set to his work of searching the whole town. It was going to be a long night.

~Some time later~

"Oh dear." remarked Mr. Meanswell, looking out the front window into the street, where Sportacus stood silhouetted in the glow of one of the streetlights.

"It seems Sportacus is still looking for Stephanie."

Milford sighed. He had not been able to sleep for worry. He was sure that his niece would be back soon, and the situation would be explained, but for now it was extremely worrisome.

The mayor slipped on his coat and made his way out to where Sportacus was standing.

"Sportacus, you must get some rest!" he pleaded.

Sportacus shook his head.

"No. Not until I find Stephanie!"

The mayor sighed.

"Please, Sportacus!" he insisted, "You'll never find her in this light. Get some rest, so that you have the energy to look for her in the morning."

Sprotacus thought about it. He knew the mayor had a point. His energy would be better used in the daylight. Still, he didn't want Stephanie lost for any longer than he had to, so he decided that energy used sooner was better. Sportacus glanced back at the mayor. Despite this decision he might as well go up to his airship. Then the mayor would have one less thing to worry about, and he could use his telescope to survey the town from above.

"Alright." he consented, "I'll get some rest."

The mayor looked satisfied.

"Good." he said, relieved.

The mayor turned to go, and so did Sportacus, but before either of them had gotten far the mayor turned around and added:

"And Sportacus? Thank you for taking such good care of my niece. I can't tell you how appreciated it is."

Sportacus turned and smiled.

"Thank you, Mayor. I'm just trying to do my best to protect everyone in Lazytown." he laughed hollowly, "But right now it doesn't look like I'm doing too well at that."

The mayor chuckled.

"Always coming at a second's notice? Being ready to help at any time, with anything? Staying up until midnight for a missing child? I think that counts for something."

Sportacus was surprised at this genuine thanks.

"Thank you." he answered.

The mayor went back inside, and Sportacus walked quietly back to his airship ladder, thinking about what the mayor had said. He was touched.

When he got up into his airship Sportacus went over to his telescope. Before he got there he heard a chime, and his computer system announced:

"New message."

Sportacus walked over to the computer with curiosity. He didn't often get messages this way. It was usually by air mail. He tapped the screen and the message played.

_"Hello Sportacus!"_

It was Robbie Rotten. He stood with his face uncomfortably close to the screen, and a ridiculous smile on his face. Sportacus raised his eyebrows. _A message from Robbie Rotten?_

This was obviously a pre-recorded video, and so Robbie went on, oblivious as to Sportacus's response.

_"How are you?" Robbie went on. He paused as if to wait for answer._

_"Good! Good!" he nodded seriously. "Now... I have a little bargain to make with you. I have something I believe is yours."_

_He stepped back from the camera to reveal Stephanie in her cage._

"Stephanie!" Sportacus gasped.

_Robbie proceeded over to the armchair and sat down in it, resting an arm on top of the cage possessively._

_"Now..." he proceeded, "If you leave Lazytown with the promise to never return, I will let her go. If you choose to stay... I guess I will just get to keep pinkie here."_

_Just then Stephanie interrupted, bursting out:_

_"No, Sportacus, don't listen! I'll be fine! Don't go!"_

_Irritated at this interruption, Robbie gave the cage a swift kick, rattling the bars and frightening Stephanie into submission._

_Satisfied, he proceeded._

_"Also, I wouldn't try to come and rescue her. We wouldn't want anything... _unfortunate_ to befall her."_

_He gave a final sneer and ended with:_

_"Good night, Sportacus. I will await your answer with the utmost interest."_

With that the message ended. Sportacus swayed uneasily. He had to grab the wall for support. What on earth? This was beyond Robbie's usual pranks. This was ridiculous. What on earth was Robbie thinking? What was he doing, fooling around like this? Sportacus shook his head. Foolish or not, it was real, and he had to do something. He sighed and sunk down to the floor, weighing his options. Oh, who was he kidding? He only had one choice.

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**Ooooh, what will he do? Will he have to leave Lazytown? XD It's probably pretty obvious what will happen, but still, I won't spoil it. Review pretty please! Tell me what you think!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you guys so much for waiting! It took me this long, and it's actually a really short chapter. I've just been too busy with school and stuff to write. I seriously have no idea how some of you guys do it. Those of you who post super long chapters, twice a week, IN COLLEGE? You seriously must be superheros or something. Or, I don't know, maybe I'm just lazy. Well, here it is, at long last.**

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"Wakey-wakey, Pinkie."

Stephanie opened her eyes to find Robbie's face uncomfortably close to her own, though on the other side of the bars. She jerked back, but hit her head on the bars next to her. Rubbing her head, she carefully got up into a sitting position. Gosh, she was sore. A night of sleeping on the cold floor was not a comfortable thing. As she stretched her muscles as best she could in the confined space, she noticed Robbie reaching into his side-table drawer for something. He brought out a ring of keys, and proceeded to insert one into the lock. Stephanie's eyes lit up. Was he going to let her go? With the key half inserted into the lock, Robbie paused.

"Now listen, don't go poking about at things or I'll put you back in. You won't be able to get out of this place without my help, so don't bother trying."

He finished turning the key in the lock, and as soon as the door was unlatched Stephanie sprung out and away from Robbie, as if afraid that if she stayed near the cage too long he might change his mind and put her back in. She stopped a good ways out of reach from him and turned to face him, crossing her arms. Stephanie prepared herself for an argument. She was going to have to be tough.

"Why aren't you letting me go?" she demanded.

Robbie gave her an over-exaggerated well-isn't-it-obvious? face and explained, "Well, you know the deal. Sportacus leaves and you can go. Sportacus stays, you stay. And obviously Sportacus hasn't left Lazytown yet."

Stephanie gave him a skeptical look, but said nothing. She knew that Sportacus had to stay in Lazytown. She knew that she was supposed to want him to stay. And she did, of course, but _she_ didn't want to have to stay. She hoped with all her heart that Sportacus wouldn't be forced to leave... But he wouldn't just leave her here, would he?

"If you're not letting me go, why did you let me out?" she asked.

Robbie rolled his eyes at her.

"Did you want to stay in that cage forever?"

Stephanie shifted uncomfortably and waited for him to continue. It was a rhetorical question.

"I don't think it would work out too well. Anyway, there's a bathroom off to the left, and candy in that storage closet, and..."

Robbie drifted off, not knowing what else little girls needed. That was it, right?

"...Well, just tell me if there's anything you _really_ need. Otherwise, leave me alone!"

Stephanie scowled at him and went off to use the bathroom. Once inside she turned to the mirror to observe what sate she was in. A tired girl with sort pink hair gazed back at her. Stephanie forced a smile, as if to comfort the girl in the mirror. The girl in the mirror did the same. Stephanie then sighed and looked away from her reflection._ How on earth did this happen?_ Just a normal day and then she was suddenly in a cage and couldn't leave. This must have to be the worst day ever. She was kidnapped, Sportacus might have to leave Lazytown, there wasn't any food but candy, and Robbie thought that she had a crush on Sportacus!

Stephanie gulped. _A crush on Sportacus?_ Or something like that. He seemed to assume that Stephanie meant something special to _him_. In other words, he thought that Sportacus had a crush on...

Stephanie stopped. She couldn't complete the thought. It was awkward, and besides that, untrue. She couldn't stand to believe that for one minute, otherwise she... She would have... She would...

_Why couldn't she bloody think straight?_ Every time she tried to end her thoughts, she ended up giving up, backing away. She decided that, what the heck, she was going to end the thought.

_Otherwise she would have false hope._

And the other one, the one she wished to be true:

_He thought that Sportacus had a crush on her._

There. She finally admitted it to herself. She wished it to be true. She had a crush on Sportacus.

This may seem like a rather obvious and inconsequential conclusion to us, but to Stephanie this was the ultimate defeat. You see, Stephanie had never had a crush before, not a proper one. People told her that girls had crushes on boys, and that that was how it worked. So of course she assumed that she probably had a crush on someone, seeing how that was how it worked and all, but she had never been truly attracted to someone. This was the first time, and it was probably not a great intro. A superhero almost a generation older than you that you met when you were nine is not exactly the easiest first crush. Of course, Stephanie knew how she felt inside, but she refused to admit it, even to herself. To have Robbie Rotten acknowledge such a situation before even she herself had was a rather unnerving shock, and in some ways a total defeat.

Now that she had confronted her own thoughts, she hated them._ What kind of messed up person was she? Liking an older man, at her age? There was obviously something wrong with her. What planted these weird thoughts in her head? He was her best friend, when had she started think of him like... Like this? No question about it, she was seriously messed up. There was obviously some flaw in her character that had brought this on. She wasn't right, wasn't human._

After some time Stephanie realized she was crying. Her sides heaved in silent sobs, and tears dribbled down her chin. She was tired, stressed, and emotional, and had finally broken down and taken it out on herself. She took a quick glance at herself in the mirror and caught a glimpse of wet, puffy eyes and pinkened skin. Just as quickly as she glanced up she turned away. She hated seeing herself crying. It just made her look even more miserable and wretched. In the middle of her breakdown Stephanie decided one thing: Sportacus would save her. For sure. She didn't know how, or if he'd leave, but he definitely wouldn't let her stay here. Never.

~Back with Robbie~

Robbie was feeling extremely happy. It was all playing out _very_ well. Everything had gone exactly to plan, and he was actually rather enjoying himself. He really ought to be this evil more often. Oh, and he could only imagine the look on Sportacus's face when he'd gotten the message. Robbie was having a very good time trying on the evil villain mask, and it was beginning to go to his head a bit. Every time he upset Stephanie, or hurt her, he got this wonderful rush of power, and he was very proud of his video performance.

_We wouldn't want anything... unfortunate to befall her._

Oh yes, that was good. He sounded like a proper movie villain. He sounded in charge, impressive, _scary_ even.

Robbie chuckled to himself. He was so awesome. He could have gotten up and done a dance, only that wouldn't be a very evil and impressive thing to do. He contented himself with another evil grin and a chuckle. And that last bit... The little twist in his plan... It was brilliant. Genius. Stephanie would never be the wiser.

~Meanwhile, down in Lazytown~

_BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP!_

The mayor reached over to his sidetable and fumbled with the alarm clock. He eventually succeeded in turning it off, and looked at the display.

_7:00_

It had been a long night. He slipped on his slippers and went downstairs to see if Sportacus was around. Milford expected that he would be, unless he hadn't gotten enough sleep and crashed.

When Milford reached the kitchen he found a note on the counter. He picked it up. It read:

_Dear Mayor,_  
_Robbie Rotten has taken Stephanie. I have left Lazytown with the agreement that if I stay away he will let her go. It was nice knowing you all, and thank you for everything. Expect Stephanie back soon._

_-Sportacus_

_P.S. Say goodbye to the kids for me._

Silence. The mayor dropped the note. He ran outside. He looked out in the street, then up to the sky. The airship was gone.


End file.
